- Suffolk’s senior clerics are set to ask for £500,000 in donations to help plug a £1million Covid cash shortfall and ensure the church can carry on serving the county’s hardest hit communities, it has been announced.
Bishop Martin Seeley and bishop Mike Harrison are writing to 1,000 “Suffolk saints” to ask for their help in supporting clergy and congregations in the most deprived parts of the county. Bishop Martin, Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, said the Church of England diocese – an area which includes most of Suffolk’s 450 or so parishes – is facing a funding shortfall due to Covid-19. He said: “We have worked hard these past five years to make our finances sustainable in the long term and turn a deficit into a modest surplus but, as a result of Covid-19 we are now facing un unprecedented deficit of £1.6million this year and likely a similar sum next.
The bishop who is the leader of the diocese’s 150 strong clergy, said the church commissioners, which manages the historic assets of the national Church of England, have stepped in offering a grant of £600,000 to the diocese, reducing the funding shortfall to £1million. Bishop Martin added: “Every church in the county essentially has to support itself, paying for their clergy as well as maintaining the worship and outreach activity and buildings. “Through these last eight months, we have seen the network of clergy and congregations across Suffolk respond with incredible speed and generosity to the needs of their communities. It is these very churches in communities of greatest need in Suffolk that are hardest hit, losing income from events, hall bookings and individuals.” Bishop Martin, who was consecrated Bishop in 2015, said the diocese finances, which had historically been kept afloat by the sale of clergy housing, had improved in recent years. He said: “We had recently made a surplus without having to sell vicarages. I do not think we are back to square one as we now have the financial foundations in place.” The bishop also said he had no intention of closing churches or reducing clergy numbers.
He added: “I cannot see how we can sustain the life of the church in Suffolk with fewer clergy than we have, and closing churches isn’t the answer. We are committed to maintaining a presence in every community, and we have seen over these last months how vital this has been. This is why we are asking friends of the church and of the diocese for help.”
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